Tuesday, June 19, 2012

What's your favourite book title?

Titles can make or break a book. Well, I think they certainly help. And they are quite often hard to come up with. I mean it. Oy, that can sometimes be harder than writing the book!  At least for me.

The reason I'm rambling about this is because I'm working on my latest novel (I shelved the Cuckoo series because it's still being evil to me and am 20k into this one in a week. Gah). Its title is CALLED, which I rather like, but I don't know if it really grabs at you and makes you want to look at the book. 

It has got me thinking about books I've read in the past where the title really hooked me. ONCE UPON A GARDEN HOSE is a kids' book with a great title, it really is. My favourite title though, so much so that I remember it decades later, is a book titled OUTNUMBERING THE DEAD. I don't remember who wrote it or what it was about, but I remember that title. I wish I'd thought of it. I'd have written a book around that title.

So what is your all time favourite book title? I'd love to get a list going in the comments.

8 comments:

  1. Hi --

    'Called' intrigued me. It made me wonder who called, what called, or whether the main character received a call to adventure, or a calling of some sort. I can't really say much more about it because I don't know the plot, anything about the characters, or theme of the book. --Mudpiequeen

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    1. Hrm. Your interpretations are interesting. That's not what I've done, mind you. But I definitely like. :)

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  2. CALLED IS GOOD! combined with the book cover to give a direction to the story. my list: the quiet dead
    why
    stoneheart
    beginning of the beginning
    -----bobbie

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    1. I like the sound of The Quiet Dead. Must be my love of zombie books. :)

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  3. I don't have a strong feeling either way about "Called." I like your Sylph titles very much. Here are some others I like.

    The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles
    A Brother's Price
    The Wooing of Sadie Witherspoon
    The Phantom Tollbooth
    The Velveteen Rabbit
    Skinwalker
    River Marked
    Raven Crossed
    The Count of Monte Cristo

    I guess there's a kind of rhythm to the book titles I remember.

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    1. I've heard of a few of those books and yes, those are great titles. The first one is the one I like the most. Certainly got my attention!

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  4. Called doesn't really call to me I guess. I'm usually a fan of longer titles, especially ones that don't really describe the book until it's some hidden gem that makes it all make sense. But here are some titles that grabbed my attention, and cause me to stop and pick up something I normally would not.

    The Beekeeper's apprentice
    The Wayfarer Redemption
    Fire and Hemlock
    Nightlife
    Lady Lazarus
    Crime and Punishment
    Veronkia decides to Die
    The Geography of Bliss
    Born to Run
    The Restorer
    To Light a Candle
    A Woman worth Ten coppers

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    1. I generally like longer titles too, come tot think of it. I haven't come up with anything better for CALLED just yet, and at this stage, when I'm writing it I always refer to it by one word anyway, just for ease of laziness.

      I like this list. Thanks for sharing. :)

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